Kenneth Lund (L) and Mayor Higham unveil monument to Daniel Lund as Al Smith looks on

Mayor John Higham and Kenneth Lund officially dedicated Daniel Lund Park on Saturday as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of the Sackville Waterfowl Park.

They unveiled a monument to Daniel Lund, who assembled nearly 20 acres of marsh, meadow and woodland that he willed to the town on his death in 2013 under the federal Ecological Gifts Program.

Lund’s younger brother, Kenneth, spoke to about 75 people who had gathered for the dedication ceremony. He said that Daniel originally planned to erect a heritage windmill on the site. The windmill would have been in honour of his grandfather, who fought in the American Civil War before becoming a lumberman.

“A windmill would have been marvellous,” Kenneth Lund said, “but I think and he thought too that a much better result was to have this as part of Sackville’s marvellous and wondrous Waterfowl Park.”

Daniel Lund’s bequest expands the area of the 55-acre Waterfowl Park by more than a third.

Childhood memories

Kenneth Lund remembered how 80 years ago, he and Daniel and their friends played in the woods and meadows that were then owned by the Doncaster, Campbell and Wheaton families, and how his brother bought the land they had loved as children.

“And so, it is with feelings of great pleasure that I think of these lands,” Lund said, “meadows and grassland, uplands, such as you’re standing on, and land with trees that love to have their feet in the water, to add to and give a much wider habitat and walking area for the people of this community.”

Daniel Lund monument near TransCanada Highway showing heritage windmill (click to enlarge)

New trail

Al Smith, who serves on the Waterfowl Park Advisory Committee, said that this summer, the town will build a walkway leading from the Lund monument to a new bridge connecting with the TransCanada trail that runs through the Waterfowl Park.

Louise MacKinnon, outgoing president of the Sackville Rotary Club, presented a cheque for $25,200 to Mayor Higham to pay for construction of the bridge.

Meantime, Smith said that next year, there are plans to build a trail in Daniel Lund Park through “some pretty interesting woodland habitat with fairly mature aspen and oak trees” to connect with the park entrance just off Squire Street.

“That will add a huge dimension to the Waterfowl Park that will certainly be very much valued by birders,” Smith added.

He said that in two years, the committee hopes a small rain shelter with interpretative signage will be built near the monument as a final addition to Daniel Lund Park.

Louise MacKinnon and fellow Rotarians presenting cheque to Mayor Higham

Last August, town council approved spending $15,000 partly to restore an old trail Daniel Lund himself had built. The trail, called Dan’s Way, leads to the Lund monument from a small parking area on Squire Street.

For earlier coverage, click here.